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Nelson and Specht speed to Saturday night season opener wins at North Central Speedway

BRAINERD, MN (May 2) - North Central Speedway opened the gates and welcomed the 2026 racing season Saturday, May 2. The Brainerd-area speedplant played host a full program of racing, with WISSOTA Dirt Track Series winners Dylan Nelson and Patrick Specht making their way to victory lane.

Nelson started on the pole in the WISSOTA Super Stocks, leading from start to finish to garner his first win of the season. He took the checkered flag ahead of Austin Niemeyer, Alex Morgan, Albert Hemmesch and Devin Dustin in the top five.

In the WISSOTA Mod Fours, Specht took the lead early on in the feature from Andrew Christenson and led the rest of the way for his first victory of the young season. Connor Bruss, Dean Larson, Christenson and 14th-starter Jack Post were top-five finishers.

In the track’s other action, Aaron Johnson topped the IMCA Modifieds, Tim Bergerson was the winner in the IMCA Sport Mods, Travis Roush was victorious in the IMCA Sport Compacts, and Nathan Kohl took home the win in the IMCA Hobby Stocks.

SUMMARY

WISSOTA Super Stocks:

A Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 25-Dylan Nelson[1]; 2. 33-Austin Niemeyer[5]; 3. 10-Alex Morgan[3]; 4. 24-Albert Hemmesch[2]; 5. 47-Devin Dustin[4]

Heat 1 (6 Laps): 1. 33-Austin Niemeyer[3]; 2. 25-Dylan Nelson[5]; 3. 10-Alex Morgan[1]; 4. 24-Albert Hemmesch[2]; 5. 47-Devin Dustin[4]

WISSOTA Mod Fours:

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 17S-Patrick Specht[2]; 2. 20-Connor Bruss[4]; 3. 37-Dean Larson[6]; 4. 9C-Andrew Christenson[1]; 5. 40-Jack Post[14]; 6. XL1-Andrew Funt[15]; 7. 10¢-Dexyn Habraken[13]; 8. N28-Hailey Nohner[11]; 9. N88-Gerrald Nohner[10]; 10. 66F-Steve Froelich[17]; 11. (DNF) 25-Jordan Thayer[9]; 12. (DNF) 30K-Keith Roush[3]; 13. (DNF) 5-Robert Holtquist[12]; 14. (DNF) 5H-Dustin Holtquist[16]; 15. (DNF) 44-Chad Erlandson[8]; 16. (DNF) C92-Jeffrey Marthaler[7]; 17. (DNF) 18-Ashton Schwinn[5]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 18-Ashton Schwinn[4]; 2. 30K-Keith Roush[1]; 3. 20-Connor Bruss[8]; 4. 9C-Andrew Christenson[2]; 5. 25-Jordan Thayer[6]; 6. N28-Hailey Nohner[3]; 7. 10¢-Dexyn Habraken[5]; 8. (DNS) XL1-Andrew Funt; 9. (DNS) 5H-Dustin Holtquist

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 37-Dean Larson[2]; 2. 44-Chad Erlandson[4]; 3. C92-Jeffrey Marthaler[5]; 4. 17S-Patrick Specht[6]; 5. N88-Gerrald Nohner[3]; 6. 5-Robert Holtquist[7]; 7. 66F-Steve Froelich[8]; 8. (DNF) 40-Jack Post[1]

IMCA Sport Compacts:

A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 7T-Travis Roush[4]; 2. 19-Josh Backstrom[6]; 3. 27-Baylen Rooker[5]; 4. 21-Colton Lodermeier[12]; 5. 3JR-Kole Holtz[8]; 6. 1-Brandon Backstrom[10]; 7. 35-Alyssa Nelson[3]; 8. 76K-Kaitlyn Kohl[9]; 9. 111-Bayden Ruikka[13]; 10. 40-Max Post[7]; 11. 14-Isabelle Roskop[1]; 12. 4-Beau Fries[11]; 13. (DNF) 13R-Gary Robinson[2]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 3JR-Kole Holtz[4]; 2. 27-Baylen Rooker[3]; 3. 19-Josh Backstrom[5]; 4. 76K-Kaitlyn Kohl[6]; 5. 40-Max Post[7]; 6. 4-Beau Fries[2]; 7. (DNF) 111-Bayden Ruikka[1]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 1-Brandon Backstrom[4]; 2. 7T-Travis Roush[1]; 3. 35-Alyssa Nelson[6]; 4. 14-Isabelle Roskop[3]; 5. 13R-Gary Robinson[2]; 6. 21-Colton Lodermeier[5]

IMCA Modifieds:

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 442-Aaron Johnson[3]; 2. 26-Shawn Fletcher[5]; 3. 33A-Adam Abbey[6]; 4. 26V-AJ Viehauser[7]; 5. 27-Kyle Root[11]; 6. 14J-Troy Jordan[4]; 7. 777-Pete Hines[2]; 8. 7X-Brett Hines[12]; 9. 15T-Erick Thiesse[9]; 10. 07-Dustin Hines[10]; 11. (DNF) 26R-Mark Blood[1]; 12. (DNF) 67-Mike Brenny[8]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 26R-Mark Blood[1]; 2. 777-Pete Hines[3]; 3. 26V-AJ Viehauser[4]; 4. 27-Kyle Root[6]; 5. 67-Mike Brenny[2]; 6. 15T-Erick Thiesse[5]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 33A-Adam Abbey[1]; 2. 442-Aaron Johnson[2]; 3. 26-Shawn Fletcher[3]; 4. 14J-Troy Jordan[5]; 5. 7X-Brett Hines[6]; 6. 07-Dustin Hines[4]

IMCA Sport Mods:

A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 5B-Tim Bergerson[6]; 2. 743-Devon Charpenter[3]; 3. 71B-David Siercks[8]; 4. 30K-Jake Kierstead[13]; 5. 28R-Ryan Kleinschmidt[4]; 6. 53-Dakotah Corbin[1]; 7. 85K-Korbin Sarazin[5]; 8. 28J-Jacob Jordan[10]; 9. 19D-Nathan Donahue[2]; 10. 75-Harry Ruikka[11]; 11. 85-Anthony Sabinash[12]; 12. (DNF) 00AZ-TJ Wyman[7]; 13. (DNS) 22-Kaleb Ruikka; 14. (DQ) 4Q2-Mark Martini[9]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 5B-Tim Bergerson[1]; 2. 743-Devon Charpenter[7]; 3. 28J-Jacob Jordan[6]; 4. 53-Dakotah Corbin[3]; 5. 19D-Nathan Donahue[5]; 6. 75-Harry Ruikka[4]; 7. (DNS) 30K-Jake Kierstead

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 4Q2-Mark Martini[6]; 2. 71B-David Siercks[4]; 3. 28R-Ryan Kleinschmidt[7]; 4. 85K-Korbin Sarazin[2]; 5. 00AZ-TJ Wyman[3]; 6. (DNF) 85-Anthony Sabinash[1]; 7. (DNF) 22-Kaleb Ruikka[5]

IMCA Hobby Stocks:

A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 01-Nathan Kohl[4]; 2. 17T-Tim Otterness[10]; 3. 95-Reid Randall[1]; 4. 09-Bryon Britton[2]; 5. 11-William Herron[8]; 6. 2JR-Greg Kohl[7]; 7. 5D-Nicholas Dillenburg[9]; 8. 23-Michael Swanson[12]; 9. 4-Cory Lodermeier[11]; 10. (DNF) 03BIL-Josh Maleski[6]; 11. (DNF) 2B-Tom Anderson[5]; 12. (DNF) 31-Scott Dillenburg[3]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 17T-Tim Otterness[5]; 2. 01-Nathan Kohl[6]; 3. 11-William Herron[3]; 4. 09-Bryon Britton[4]; 5. 95-Reid Randall[1]; 6. 4-Cory Lodermeier[2]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 5D-Nicholas Dillenburg[1]; 2. 2JR-Greg Kohl[5]; 3. 03BIL-Josh Maleski[6]; 4. 31-Scott Dillenburg[2]; 5. 2B-Tom Anderson[4]; 6. (DNS) 23-Michael Swanson